Author 



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Title 






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SiMSBURY's Part 



IN THE 



OF THE 



War 

American 

Revolution 



SiMSBURY's Part 



IN THE 



OF THE 



War 

American 

Revolution 



BY 

The rev. CHAS. E. STOWE 

'I 



m^ 



1f^artfor^, Conn. 

presa of cbc Case, l,oc[?\voo^ ix. 36rafnai5 Compang 

M DCCC xcvi 



SIMSBURY'S PART 



War of the American Revolution 



Simsbury may be a small place ; but Simsbury's 
part in the War of the Revolution is a large subject. 
The same sublime laws of Nature are illustrated in a 
drop of water falling through our atmosphere, or a world 
falling through space. So the study of the history of 
one Connecticut town during the period of the Revo- 
lution is a study of events as broad as the world, and as 
far-reaching as time. 

The Simsbury of Revolutionary days was larger 
than the Simsbury of to-day by the area of the towns 
of Granby, East Granby, Bloomfield, and a part of the 
town of Canton. The original boundaries of the town 
were from the Farmington boundary north ten miles, 
and from the Windsor boundary west ten miles. 

There is in existence a map of the town which was 
made out not far from the year 1730. The main road 
leading from Avon north to Salmon brook, together 
with the roads running easterly, appear very much as at 
present. The total number of houses given on this map 
is one hundred and sixty-two. Fifty-eight of these are 
within the limits of Granby as at present defined, and 
one hundred and four within the present limits of Sims- 
bury. Now supposing that we allow ten persons to a 
house, which certainly is not a large estimate for that 
time of large families, the population of the town in 



173° could not have been far from sixteen or seventeen 
hundred persons. 

They were all of English blood ; children of the 
Magna Charta, and the Puritan England of Hampden 
and Cromwell. They were inured to every conceivable 
hardship and danger by years of conflict with savage 
nature and no less savage men. Far from kings' courts 
and standing armies and popes and bishops they had 
learned to govern both church and state according to 
the will of the majority. They were desperate fighters, 
sternly religious and moral, good organizers, and inde- 
pendent thinkers. 

The first signs of trouble between the sturdy colo- 
nists of the New World and the mother country were 
apparent early in the French and Indian wars. It was 
suggested by the British ministry that the governors 
of the several colonies should meet, and adopt such 
measures as the common safety might demand. They 
were to draw upon the Royal treasury for all necessary 
expenses, which sums were to be made good by taxes 
laid upon the colonies by Parliament. This the colonists 
resented. Parliament had no right to lay taxes upon 
them, they maintained. If they were to be taxed by 
Parliament then they must be represented in Parliament. 
They were Englishmen and as Englishmen it was their 
right to be represented in the body that laid taxes upon 
them. Here we have the beginning of all the trouble 
between Great Britain and her colonies. This original 
proposition to tax the colonies was followed up from 
time to time by various oppressive measures : such as 
restrictions on commerce, prohibition of manufactures, 
and the stamp act. There was a constantly increasing 
irritation, culminating in the Boston Port Bill passed 
the seventh of March, 1774. The Port of Boston was 
closed to commerce by the provisions of this bill, and 
there was immediately an outburst of popular wrath 
throughout the colonies, and everywhere public meet- 
ings were held to protest against this act of tyranny. 
In this great popular uprising Simsbury bore her part, 
as the following record shows. "At a special town 
meeting held in Simsbury, warned by order of the 



selectemen, at the usual place of holding public meet- 
ings in the said town, on Thursday the eleventh day of 
August, Anno Domini 1774,— Hezekiah Humphrey was 
chosen moderator for said meeting. 

"This meeting, taking into consideration the un- 
happy difference and contention arisen between the 
British ministry and the Province of Massachusetts 
Bay, especially the arbitrary proceedings against the 
town of Boston, by the act called the 'Boston Port 
Bill,' and an armed force blocking up their harbor, 
stopping their trade, etc., and considering our near 
connections with said province, and ' how much our 
trade and interest is affected thereby, do judge our- 
selves loudly called upon to make the following 
declarations and resolves, viz.: 

"That the charter privileges granted to this coun- 
try by King Charles II., and transmitted to us by 
our virtuous predecessors, who ventured their lives 
and fortunes, and every desirable enjoyment to ac- 
quire, we esteem as our birth-right sacred to our- 
selves, and our posterity ; and that none has right 
to disturb us in the enjoyment of them : which privi- 
leges we are determined to hold and transmit to 
generations to come against all opposition whatsoever. 

"That as faithful and loyal subjects of his Britan- 
nick Majesty, King George III., we are ready to 
contribute constitutionally for the support of his royal 
person or government, according to our ability, yet 
nevertheless we judge that the Parliament of Great 
Britain has no legal right to lay Taxes or Duties on 
our persons or properties without our consent. There- 
fore we resolve that our brethren and friends in 
Boston are now suffering under the cruel hands of 
oppression and arbitrary government in having been 
condemned unheard contrary to Magna Charta and 
the Royal Charter which had been granted to said 
province. 

"We therefore, from a tender feeling for the poor 
inhabitants of that Great Town of Boston, do judge 
it our duty to contribute of our substance for their 
relief under their present sufferings. 



"Furthermore, this meeting concur and approve of 
a General Congress from the several colonies and 
plantations in North America to be convened at 
Philadelphia, in September next, agreeable to the re- 
solves of several towns already published relating 
to a non-importation agreement from Great Britain, 
etc. 

" We likewise concur with our neighboring towns 
that a harmony and correspondence be propagated 
and maintained between the several towns in this 
and neighboring colonies for their mutual advice and 
assistance as occasion shall call for. Therefore, Col. 
Jonathan Pettibone, John Owen, Esq., Col. Jonathan 
Humphrey, Judah Holcomb, Esq., Mr. Joel Hayes, 
Mr. Ashel Holcomb, Mr. Ezekiel Phelps, Oliver Hum- 
phrey, Esq., and Capt. Ames Wilcocks were chosen 
a committee of correspondence for the purpose afore- 
said. 

"This meeting further resolve that a subscription 
be speedily opened for all well-disposed persons to 
show their readiness to contribute for the relief of 
the poor distressed inhabitants of Boston, in such 
articles as eacli subscriber shall judge proper and 
their circumstances will best admit of. And the afore- 
said gentlemen, the committee of correspondence, are 
chosen a committee to open and encourage and take 
in such subscriptions, and the said committee are to 
receive said donations and to transmit the same to 
the Selectmen of the Town of Boston or to such 
other person or persons as the Town shall appoint, 
taking their receipt for the same, to be improved 
for the purpose aforesaid. 

"The foregoing passed nemine cotitradicente and to 
be published in the 'Connecticut Courant.' 
"Certified by 

"John Owen, Toivn Clerk.''' 

This interesting document breathes the spirit of 
intelligent resistance against King George the Third's 
personal government which was roused throughout 
the colonies. September of this same year the whole 
country was stirred to arms by the report that the 



ships of the British fleet were shelling- Boston. In 
Connecticut alone it is estimated that at least four 
thousand men sprang to arms and began the march 
towards Boston. The men soon returned to their 
homes, as it proved to have been a false alarm. 
The incident is interesting, however, as illustrating 
the state of feeling throughout the country. 

The alarm which came from the battlefield of 
Lexington, April 19, 1775, was of a more serious 
nature and proved to be the beginning of war in 
earnest. The country was plunged into a war which 
was to continue for eight years, draining the re- 
sources and best blood of the colonies in a desperate 
struggle for constitutional government. 

All roads leading to Boston resounded with the 
tramp of armed militia marching to the relief of the 
town. 

Shortly after the Lexington alarm three companies 
went from Simsbury alone. They belonged to the 
militia, or regular trained bands and were officered by 
Capt. Zaccheus Gillet, Capt. Amos Wilcox, and Capt. 
Lemuel Roberts ; their time of service was from one 
to three years. 

Three weeks after the battle of Lexington a com- 
pany of volunteers numbering one hundred men under 
Capt. Abel Pettibone hastened to Boston and joined 
the second regiment under the command of Col. Spencer 
of East Haddam. This regiment marched to Boston by 
companies and was stationed at Roxbury, doing duty 
during the siege till the expiration of the term of service 
December, 1775. 

Officers and men on detached service from this 
regiment fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. The 
officers of the Simsbury company were Abel Pettibone, 
Capt., Simsbury; Lieut. Amasa Mills of New Hartford, 
and Lieut. Nath'l Humphrey of Simsbury, and Ensign 
Jonathan Pettibone of Simsbury. 

Immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill another 
company was raised and marched on to Boston under 
the command of Capt. Elihu Humphrey, an experienced 
soldier who had served under Gen. Lyman in the ex- 



pedition against Havana in 1762, when the city was 
bombarded and captured by Admiral Pocock. Rev. 
Daniel Barber, in a pamphlet entitled " A History of My 
own Times," has given a very vivid picture of his 
experiences as a soldier in this company. " I enlisted 
under Capt. Elihu Humphrey of Simsbury. My other 
officers were Lieut. Andrew Hillyer, Lieut. Ebenezer 
Fitch Bissell, and Ensign Stoughton ; all of whom are 
men of character and reputation. Captain Elihu, as we 
generally called him, was a son of honorable John 
Humphrey, formerly one of the Governor's council, and 
a justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of 
Hartford. Captain Elihu was a well-bred gentleman ; 
his friendly turn of mind with a sweetness of disposition, 
secured him the love of all good men ; his confidence and 
esteem procured him the commission of a major in the 
second compaign. He, dying about the close of the year 
1776, left, as a legacy to his family, a name, whose repu- 
tation will not be forgotten during many generations. I 
knew him — I revered him — and I loved him. Lieut. 
Hillyer, now Col. Hillyer, was also of Simsbury. He was 
a handsome sprightly young gentleman, who had in early 
life received a college education. As an officer his man- 
ner was unassuming, gentle, and persuasive. Whenever 
he spoke the soldiers heard him with pleasure, and what- 
ever was his will was cheerfully complied with. E. Fitch 
Bissell of Windsor was second lieutenant. He was a 
gentleman, though not of the most easy and familiar 
turn ; yet for his steady correct attention to the duties of 
his station was well respected. I think he was advanced 
to a captain-ship the next year. He died many years ago. 
Of Ensign Stoughton I remember but little. vSickness 
detained him long out of camp. He was a tall, well-made 
man and possessed a good military appearance. He was 
also from old Windsor. The sergeants in this company 
were Aaron Pinney, Jacob Tuller, Daniel Higley, and 
Thomas Hayden ; Jonathan Humphrey, Jr., afterwards 
Col. Humphrey, was clerk of the roll ; all of Simsbury 
except Sergeant Hayden. Sergeant Pinney was a man 
of fierce and fiery countenance and commanding air, well 
becoming a soldier of '75. Sergeant Tuller was a man 



from whom we did not expect much flattery ; his brow 
was generally knit together in a forbidding frown. 
Sergeant Higley, who had been a soldier in the old 
French war, was of a musical turn, and his old war songs 
made the time pass away to very good account. Ser- 
geant Thomas Hayden was no doubt a military man; 
but I should guess that no soldier ever admired him for 
his pleasant airs. Jonathan Humphrey, clerk of the roll, 
was a most charming companion ; his social airs and 
social countenance gained the good wishes and affection 
of all. He is long since dead and lies buried near Major 
Elihu in Hop Meadow burying-ground. Our company 
being suddenly enlisted to the number of about seventy- 
five, rank and file, orders were given for all to meet on a 
certain day at the house of the captain, well equipped 
and ready to begin their march. 

" The Rev. Mr. Pitkin was requested to preach that 
day the farewell sermon to the soldiers. At the hour 
appointed we marched to the meeting-house, where the 
officers appeared in military style, with their appropriate 
badges of distinction, and the soldiers in proper order, 
with their arms and accoutrements, as men prepared for 
battle. It was a full and overflowing audience, all in 
high expectation of hearing something new and charm- 
ing from so gifted a preacher. After his warm and 
fervent prayer to heaven for the success of the American 
armies, and the liberties and freedom of our country, he 
introduced his address, if I remember right, from these 
words, •' Play the man for your coimtry and for the cities 
of your God ; and the Lord do that which seemeth him 
good.' His sermon was well adapted to the occasion 
and the spirit of the day. It was tender and pathetic, 
lively and animating. . . . The sermon being ended 
the drums soon beat to arms. Being arranged in military 
order we were again conducted to the captain's house, 
and dismissed for a short time. 

" In going to and from the meeting-house, we were 
accompanied by a mixed multitude — fathers and 
mothers, wives and children, sisters, friends, and stran- 
gers. Now each soldier had an opportunity for mingling 
a few moments with his dearest friends and companions. 



The tender feelings of love, of friendship, of affec- 
tion, again burst forth. ... In the midst of this 
mingling scene of sorrow, the drums beat to arms. 
'Soldiers, take your places,' is the word; the line of march 
is formed; we add one more wistful, lingering look, 
while many a silent tear bespeaks the real feeling of 
the heart. The word is given, we begin our march 
with silent, downcast looks, and pensive feelings and 
reflections. . . . We marched about twelve miles 
that afternoon; at night put up at James Marsh's Inn. 
Here for the first time I slept as a soldier on the floor 
with a cartridge box for my pillow. At that period, 
horse-wagons being very little in use, an ox-team was 
provided to carry our provisions for the way, and a 
barrel of rum. Our provisions was salt pork and peas. 
. . . Now, for the first time, we travelled on the 
Lord's day, under arms, and past meeting-houses in 
time of public worship with drums and fifes playing 
martial music; all which was calculated to afford to 
a New England man some doubts and reflections, 
whether God would be as well pleased, with parade and 
military performance, as if we had stayed at home 
to read our Bibles, or went to meeting to hear the 
minister. But military discipline and the habits of a 
soldier soon affected a degree of relaxation in most of 
us. In process of time, many, once pious, at least in 
form and appearance, came into the practice of treating 
all days nearly alike; yet there were some who kept up 
the practice of reading Watts' Psalms and Hymns as 
a book of devotion. 

" It is very natural to expect that soldiers under arms 
are not generally inclined to the same degree of civility 
as others, or as they ought to be, though this is not 
always the case. Yet, at the period at which I am 
speaking, and during our march, it was not uncommon, 
if a soldier thought himself not well treated by the 
inn-keeper, to show him resentment by shooting a ball 
through his sign. 

" In our march through Connecticut the inhabitants 
seemed to view us with tokens of joy and gladness, and 
by them we were treated with a common civility, and 



a respect due us as soldiers; but when we came to 
Massachusetts and advanced nearer to Boston, the 
inhabitants wherever we stopped seemed to have no 
better opinion of us than if we had been a banditti 
of rogues and thieves. . . . After about nine or 
ten days marching in company with our ox-team, loaded 
with our salt pork, peas, and candlestick bottoms for 
bread, and a barrel of rum to cheer our spirits and wash 
our feet, which began to be very sore by travelling, we 
came to Roxbury, the place of our destination. There 
the place of our encampment was already marked out, 
and a part of our regiment on the spot. For every six 
soldiers there was a tent provided. The ground it 
covered was about six or seven feet square. This 
served for kitchen, parlor, and hall. The green turf 
covered with a blanket was our bed and bedstead. 
When we turned in for the night we had to lie perfectly 
straight like candles in a box; this was not pleasant to 
our hip-bones and knee-joints, which often in the night 
would wake us, and beg to turn over. Our household 
utensils, altogether, were an iron pot, a canteen, or 
wooden bottle holding two quarts, a pail, and wooden 
bowl. Each had to do his own washing and take his 
turn at the cookery." 

One of the most brilliant achievements of the war 
was accomplished largely by aid of the shrewdness and 
bravery of a Simsbury man, Gen. Noah Phelps. I refer 
to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. 

In April of the year 1775, several patriotic members 
of the General Assembly convened at Hartford to con- 
sult as to the situation. 

They were convinced that they had proof that the 
British ministry entertained the design of making a 
descent on the northern colonies by the way of Quebec. 
In case of the execution of such a design on the part of 
the enemy, it was manifest that the colonists should 
by all means possess themselves of Crown Point and 
Ticonderoga, and they consequently resolved upon their 
capture. 

To defray the expense of such an undertaking, they 
borrowed money from the colonial treasury on their 



II 



individual security, and appointed a committee to direct 
the expedition. 

Mr. Bancroft, in the fourth volume of his history of 
the United States, page i8i, gives the following account 
of this exploit: " The great deed, which in the mean- 
time was achieved in the North, was planned in Con- 
necticut and executed at her cost. Parsons, of that 
colony, on his way to Hartford, crossing Arnold, who 
was bound for Massachusetts, obtained of him an ac- 
count of the state of Ticonderoga, and the great number 
of its brass cannon. At Hartford, on the 27th of April, 
Parsons, taking as his advisers Sainuel Wyllys and 
Silas Deane, with the assistance of three others, pro- 
jected the capture of the fort, and without formally 
consulting the assembly or the governor and council, 
they, on their own receipts, obtained money from the 
public treasury, and on the 28th sent forward Noah 
Phelps and Bernard Romans. 

"The next day Captain Edward Mott of Preston, 
chairman of the Connecticut committee, followed with 
five associates. Ethan Allen was encouraged by an 
express messenger to raise men chiefly in the New 
Hampshire Grants. On the morning of the first of May, 
the party, which had grown to the number of sixteen, 
left Salisbury. At Pittsfield, in Massachusetts, the 
Connecticut party were joined by John Brown, the 
young lawyer of that village, by Colonel James Easton, 
and by volunteers from Berkshire. At Bennington 
they found Ethan Allen, who sent the alarm through 
the hills and valleys of Vermont ; and on Sunday, the 
seventh of May, about one hundred Green Mountain 
boys, and about fifty soldiers from Massachusetts, 
under the command of Easton, rallied at Castleton. 
Just then arrived Arnold with only one attendant. He 
brought a commission from the Massachusetts com- 
mittee of safety, which was disregarded ; and the men 
unanimously elected Ethan Allen as their chief. On the 
ninth, the party arrived at Orwell. With the utmost 
difficulty a few boats were brought together, and 
eighty-three men with Allen, landed near Ticonderoga. 
The boats were sent back for Seth Warner and the 



I 



rear guard ; but, if they were to be waited for there 
could be no surprise. The men were therefore drawn 
up in three ranks, and, as the first beams of morning- 
broke upon the mountain peaks, Allen addressed them : 
'Friends and fellow soldiers, we must this morning 
quit our pretensions to valor, or possess ourselves of 
this fortress ; and, insomuch as it is a desperate attempt, 
I do not urge it on, contrary to will. You that will 
undertake voluntarily poise your firelock.' 

"At the word, every firelock was poised. 'Face to 
the right,' cried Allen; and, placing himself at the head 
of the center file, Arnold keeping emulously at his 
side, he marched to the gate. It was shut, but the 
wicket was open. The sentry snapped a fusil at him. 
The Americans rushed into the fort, darted upon the 
guards, and, raising the Indian war-whoop, such as had not 
been heard there since the days of Montcalm, formed on 
the parade in hollow square, to face each of the barracks. 
One of the sentries, after wounding an officer, and being 
slightly wounded himself, cried out for quarter, and 
showed the way to the apartment of the com- 
mander. 'Come forth instantly or I will sacrifice the 
whole garrison,' cried Ethan Allen as he reached the 
door. 

"At this, Delaplace, the commander, came out un- 
dressed with his breeches in his hand. ' Deliver the 
fort to me instantly,' said Allen. 'By what authority,' 
asked Delaplace. 'In the name of the Great Jehovah 
and the Continental Congress,' answered Allen. 

"Delaplace began to speak again, but was per- 
emptorily interrupted; and at the sight of Allen's 
drawn sword near his head, he gave up the garrison, 
ordering his men to be paraded without arms. Thus 
Ticonderoga, which cost the' British nation eight million 
sterling, a succession of campaigns, and many lives, was 
won in ten minutes by a few undisciplined volunteers, 
without the loss of life or limb." In this account, Mr. 
Bancroft has passed over in silence an incident in the 
history of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga which 
throws much light on that important achievement. A 
day or so before the events so dramatically pictured by 

13 



Mr. Bancroft transpired, Noah Phelps of Simsbury 
undertook the dangerous and difficult role of a spy. 

He landed near the fortress, and proceeded to a 
tavern near by, miich frequented by the British officers. 
A number of the younger men had a convivial drink- 
ing bout in the room next to his own, and let fall many 
remarks which gave important hints as to the condition 
of the fortress. The next day he obtained admission 
within the fort, was shaved by a barber attached to 
the garrison, and engaged one of the officers in con- 
versation as to the condition of the fort for defense in 
case of a sudden attack. " Our powder is so poor," 
said the officer, "that we are obliged to dry and sift it 
before it can be used, and even then it is not to be 
relied on." Having gained this important piece of in- 
formation Phelps was anxious to get away. The officer 
accompanied him to the beach where he embarked in 
a boat, having made an arrangement with the boatman 
to take him across the lake. When they were out of 
sight of the fort, behind a wooded point, Phelps, who was 
a man of prodigious strength of body took an oar and 
urged the speed of the boat with such frantic zeal as 
to excite the boatman's suspicions. The latter thought 
it best not to interfere with his muscular passenger, 
however, and arriving at his destination Phelps gave 
the information which led Allen to attempt the surprise 
which proved so successful. 

The barber who shaved Phelps in the fort afterwards 
came to Simsbury, and in conversation said good- 
naturedly, " I would have cut your throat if I had 
known that you were a spy." It is just as well that he 
did not know. 

In 1776, the General Assembly appointed Phelps cap- 
tain of a company in a regiment about to be raised for 
the Continental service. Subsequently he was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major-General of militia. 

A word as to the organization of the military ser- 
vice of the state or colony may not be out of place here. 

Previous to 1739, there had been only company 
organizations, trained bands, as they were called; but 
in this year thirteen regiments were formed, and this 

14 



number was subsequently increased. In the year 1774, 
the eighteenth regiment was organized. It comprised 
the military companies of the towns of Simsbury, New 
Hartford, Hartland, Barkhamsted, and Colebrook. 
Jonathan Pettibone was appointed colonel, and Jona- 
than Humphrey lieut.-colonel, both of Simsbury. The 
Connecticut Coiirant of 17 75 contains the following: 
"Jonathan Pettibone, Colonel of the eighteenth regi- 
ment of militia in this colony, on receiving notice 
from the Continental Congress to enlist one-fourth 
part of the militia to be in readiness on the shortest 
notice for service, gave orders to the captains of his 
regiment to muster their men for said service as minute 
men. The spirit was so generous in the soldiery that 
a number sufficient to form three companies of sixty- 
eight men each, exclusive of officers, immediately en- 
listed, chose their officers, and were ready for any 
expedition on the shortest notice." 

In July, 1776, the whole militia company, under 
the command of Capt. Job Case of Simsbury, was 
drafted and ordered to be in readiness at a certain 
time on the parade, from thence to march to New 
Haven and take shipping to New York. They were 
allowed but one day to make preparation. This com- 
pany was attached to the eighteenth regiment, under 
the command of Col. Jonathan Pettibone. Rev. Daniel 
Barber, whose graphic words we have already quoted, 
was a soldier in this company, and has left us the 
following account: "The next year the war appeared 
much more alarming, as the British had sent out a 
large addition of sea and land forces. The whole 
country west of the Connecticut river was in alarm. 
The militia were called out for the defense of 
New York and Long Island. This was about the 
month of July. We took shipping at New Haven, I 
think the day before the battle began at Flat Bush 
on Long Island. From the place where we were 
stationed we were deafened by the loud thunder of 
cannon, and the cracking of small arms, and could see 
the smoke ascending as from a furnace. 

"Our army, finding, at length, that they were not 

15 



able to hold their position, made a general and very- 
secure retreat from Long Island to New York. Shortly- 
after this New York was abandoned to the enemy, 
and, a little later, Fort Washington, with i,8oo Ameri- 
cans, fell into the hands of the British. Col. Jonathan 
Pettibone died on his return from New York. A stone 
erected to his memory in the Hop Meadow burying- 
ground reads as follows : ' In memory of Col. Jona- 
than Pettibone, who departed this life at Rye in the 
State of New York, and was buried there ; at the head 
of his regiment at the defense of his country, Sept. 6, 
1776, in the 67th year of his age.' He filled up his 
departments in public and private life with fidelity and 
honor, exhibited a bright example of the Christian 
virtues, and died with a firm hope of a glorious im- 
mortality." 

Major Elihu Humphrey was also in the battle of 
Long Island, was desperately wounded, taken prisoner, 
and confined in the old sugar-house prison, where he was 
subjected to such barbarous treatment as left him 
shattered in health, so that after his release he returned 
to Simsbury only to die. His gravestone in the Hop 
Meadow burying- ground bears this inscription : 

" In memory of Major Elihu Humphrey who died 
Feb. 25, 1777, in ye 39th year of his age. 

' Death is a debt to nature due, 
Which I have paid and so must you.' " 

The eighteenth regiment, after Col. Pettibone's 
death, passed to the command of Col. Jonathan Hum- 
phrey, who had been the lieutenant-colonel until the 
death of Colonel Pettibone. March 20, 1777, the regi- 
ment contained only two companies of ninety-six men 
each, and wa^ one of ten regiments sent to Peekskill 
under the command of Gen. Wadsworth at the request 
of Gen. Washington. A return from the i8th Reg. 
Mil., commanded by Col. Jonathan Humphrey, dated 
July, 1777, it appears that two hundred and sixty-four 
men of this regiment were in service in the Continental 
line. As we have stated before there were originally 
twenty-one companies, with an aggregate force of 1,149 

16 



men, of whom over three-fourths were from Simsbury. 
Col. Jonathan Humphrey was one of a committee 
appointed by the General Assembly, May, 1775, to 
take care of, and provide for officers, soldiers, and their 
families. He died Sept. 13, 17 94- 

The year 1777 was one of the darkest periods of 
the war. On the i8th of March, the Governor and 
Council of Safety of Connecticut ordered that: "The 
civil authority, selectmen, and military officers, and 
all friends to the liberties of mankind, should be 
requested and exhorted to exert themselves to their 
utmost, and that immediately as they regarded the 
welfare and salvation of their country, in encouraging 
and preparing the quotas of their respective towns to 
engage in said service, and encourage such enlistments." 
In compliance with this request a town meeting was 
called by the selectmen of Simsbury on the 26th of 
March, at which it was voted "that the present select- 
men, namely, Jacob Tuller, Isaach Gillet, Capt. Ezekiel 
Humphrey, Richard Gay, and Capt. Samuel Hayes are 
chosen a committee to take care of the families of any 
of the soldiers who desire it, to lay out the money such 
soldiers shall deposit in their hands to purchase pro- 
visions and other necessaries for such families at ye 
prices stated by law, agreeable to the requisition of 
the Governor and Council of Safety. 

"It is also recommended by this meeting to said 
selectmen to see what money they can get by subscrip- 
tions and donations to encourage soldiers to enlist in 
the Continental army." 

On the 12th of Septemlijer the Governor and Council 
of Safety resolved: "That each town in the state 
should be requested as soon as might be to convene 
and make provision as should seem best to procure 
immediately one shirt or more if they saw fit, either 
linen or woolen ; one hunting shirt or frock, one pair 
of woolen over-alls, one or two pair of stockings, and 
one pair of shoes for each non-commissioned officer in 
the Continental army who might belong to such town." 
Prices of all imported goods were enormously 
increased by the embargo which suppressed importa- 

17 



tion, and monopoly which raised the prices on such 
goods as were already in the country. To remedy this 
evil the General Assembly passed laws regulating the 
prices of goods and of labor. The price fixed on salt 
was ten shillings per bushel. The scarcity of this 
necessity of life became so great that the General 
Assembly to prevent monopoly passed an act "em- 
powering the Civil authority and Selectmen of the 
several towns, upon application, to cause the stores of 
any engrosser or monopolizer of salt, within their 
respective towns, to be opened, seized, and distributed 
among the inhabitants, who should need it, at the 
price fixed by law." No family was permitted to receive 
over half a bushel. 

At length the supply of salt was exhausted and 
the distress was so great as to threaten the peace and 
safety of the state. The Governor and Council of 
Safety therefore ordered the impressment of a number 
of vessels to be fitted out and protected by an armed 
ship to purchase salt for the state of Connecticut. The 
salt thus obtained was deposited with agents for dis- 
tribution to towns and individuals. 

At a town meeting held in Simsbury, Dec. i, 1777, 
it was voted : " That the respective school committee- 
men in the several societies in this town, and in the 
respective districts, are directed to exhibit an account 
of the number of inhabitants, that is of each family, 
and to exhibit the said number as soon as may be to 
the present selectmen, in order that the town's salt may 
be equally divided." 

Shortly before this time Mr. Daniel Barber, a resi- 
dent of Simsbury, started out in search of salt for his 
family, fortified with the following document : 

Hartford County, Simsbury, Oct. 14, 1777. 
These certify that Mr. Daniel Barber, the Bearer, 
has taken the oath of fidelity to these states, and that 
he has lately hired a man into the Continental service, 
and I never knew that he behaved unfriendly to these 
states. Please let him pass and repass as long as he 
behaves friendly to these states. 

Per John Owen, Justice of t/ie Peace. 

18 



On November fifteenth, 1777, "articles of confeder- 
ation and perpetual union " were adopted by the Conti- 
nental Congress, to be submitted for approbation to the 
several states. Of this act Bancroft says, Vol. V., page 
208 : " The system was imperfect, and was acknowl- 
edged to be imperfect. A better one could not then 
have been accepted ; but with all its faults it contained 
the elements for the evolution of a more perfect union. 
The sentiment of nationality was forming. The framers 
of the confederacy would not admit into that instrument 
the name of the people of the United States, and de- 
scribe the states as so many sovereign and independent 
communities; yet already in the circular letter of 1777 
to the states, asking their several subscriptions to the 
plan of confederacy, they avowed the purpose to secure 
to the inhabitants of all the states an ' existence as a free 
people.' The child that was then born was cradled be- 
tween opposing powers of evil ; if it will live, its infant 
strength must strangle the twin serpents of separatism 
and central despotism." 

At a town meeting held in Simsbury the twelfth 
day of January, Anno Domini 1778, Colonel Noah Phelps 
was chosen chairman, and " after reading the Articles of 
Confederation drawn up and adopted by the Continental 
Congress of the United States of North America, and 
recommended by the General Assembly of this state to 
the consideration of the towns, voted to consider this 
Confederation article by article, and after considering the 
same to the 8th article, voted to adjourn this meeting to 
the 19th day of January instant, to meet at this place 
at 10 o'clock in the morning. 

"And on Monday the 19th day of January, 1778, this 
meeting was opened according to the adjournment. Col. 
Noah Phelps continued Moderator; voted, to adopt and 
concur with all the articles of Confederation afore-men- 
tioned, and John Owen, Daniel Humphrey, and Mr, 
Andrew Hillyer were chosen and appointed a committee 
to transmit the doings of this meeting to the General 
Assembly of this state in their present sessions. 

" Voted, that the vote passed in this town at a town 
meeting on the twenty-ninth of September last to make 

19 



k 



an addition to the soldiers' wages shall be now stopped, 
and to continue in force no longer. . . . Voted, the 
remaining salt belonging to the town shall be dis- 
tributed to the soldiers' families and widows, at the 
discretion of the selectmen. 

"This meeting is dissolved by vote." 

The following extract from the records bears testi- 
mony to the energy and liberality with which the town 
stood by its soldiers at the front during the desperate 
conflict. 

"At a special town meeting held in Simsbury at the 
meeting-house in the first society in said town on the i6th 
day of June, A.D. 1780, Colonel Jonathan Humphrey 
was chosen moderator of said meeting; voted, that there 
shall be paid out of said town-treasury for the encourage- 
ment of soldiers that have enlisted since the first day of 
March last, or shall inlist into the Continental, or this 
state's service belonging to this town's quota, shall have 
for their encouragement paid as aforesaid as a premium 
the sum of twelve shillings per month for each soldier in 
said service for so long a time each soldier shall serve, at 
any time between said first day of March last until the 
first day of January next, and this encouragement to ex- 
tend to the non-commissioned officers according to their 
rank in office. 

" Also voted, that each non-commissioned officer, 
according to their rank, and each private soldier be- 
longing to this town's quota or regiment, that have 
enlisted, or are taken into the public military service, 
from the first of March last, or that shall be em- 
ployed in said service till the first day of January 
next, shall have for their wages for each month any 
such officer or soldier shall be employed as aforesaid, 
forty shillings, to be estimated as wheat at four 
shillings per bushel, for the term they shall be in 
said service, and that if what is allowed to them by 
the state or Congress shall fall short of said sum, 
the remainder shall be paid out of this town's treas- 
ury, so that their monthly wages shall be sufficient 
to purchase ten bushels of wheat, whether it be paid 
in silver, Connecticut State's money, or Continental, 



and that said premitim and bounty shall be estimated 
and paid in the same manner." 

At a town meeting held in Simsbury, Anno 
Domini 1780, Capt. Ezekiel Humphrey was chosen 
moderator of said meeting. Voted, "to raise a rate 
of i6d on the pound, to be paid either in provisions, 
or provisions at the stipulated prices according to the 
late act of the General Assembly of this State at 
their last session, or in silver or gold coyn, to be 
laid out in purchasing a Magazine of provisions for 
the Continental army ; also voted to chuse a commit- 
tee to purchase and receive and store said provisions 
and appoint the places where to receive and store the 
same, and the present selectmen are chosen a com- 
mittee for the purpose aforesaid 

"Voted, to chuse a committee to class the in- 
habitants of said town according to their respective 
lists agreeable to the act of the General Assembly, 
in order to raise the quota of Continental soldiers 
belonging to this town to fill up the army for three 
years, or during the war." 

The 19th day of October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis 
surrendered a British army of seven thousand men at 
Yorktown, Virginia, and the war was practically at an 
end. The town records of Simsbury show her " Civil 
Authority and Selectmen " to have met with no little 
difficulty in holding out as they did grimly to the end. 

" At a lawful town meeting of the inhabitants of 
the town of Simsbury held by adjournment on the 
fifteenth day of February, 17 81, Capt. Ezekiel Hum- 
phrey continued moderator of said meeting. 

" Proposed to vote whether the Town will excuse 
Jedidiah Case from paying his proportion to hire a 
Continental soldier in the class he belongs to. Nega- 
tived. Eseck Allin in the same class ; Negatived. 

" Voted, that Prime Stores, and Prime Stores Jun. 
& Rogers refusing to pay their proportion in hiring 
a Continental soldier in the class they belong to, shall 
be doomed to pay to said class double of their said 
proportion according to law. 

" Voted, that David Edwards, Isaach Eno, Jared 



Merrill & Martin Humphrey, Thomas Barber 2nd, 
Robert Mason, and Thomas Barber 3rd, and John 
Pike, they and each of them, each of them refusing 
to pay their proportion in procuring Continental sol- 
diers in their respective classes in which they belong, 
shall be and are now doomed to pay double sums 
to their respective classes, as assigned to them, and 
to be collected as the law directs." One reads be- 
tween the lines here a rebellion of some magnitude 
sternly suppressed by King Democracy, 

Simsbury of that day seems to have been an in- 
dependent self-governing Republic. One of the great 
powers of the world, in fact, examining with critical 
severity the doings of kings and congresses. 

"At a special Town meeting of the inhabitants 
of Simsbury legally warned held in the first society 
in the town on the 12th day of November, A.D, 
1787, Captain Elisha Graham was chosen moderator 
of the meeting. 

" Noah Phelps and Daniel Humphrey, Esq., were 
chosen delegates for the Convention of the State of 
Connecticut, to convene in Hartford, in the County of 
Hartford on the first Thursday of January next. 
And it was proposed to and taken into consideration 
by said meeting, it would be advantageous to this 
and other United States of America to adopt the new 
constitution agreed upon by the Federal Convention 
lately held at Philadelphia ; and after deliberating on 
the subject it was voted by said meeting that it 
was the sense and opinion of the same that to adopt 
the proposed constitution would institute and erect 
an aristocracy which they fear would end in despot- 
ism and tyranny, and extinguish or nearly absorb 
our ancient charter priviledges ever sacred and dear 
to us, and instead of lessening our taxes and burdens 
it would greatly increase and augment them and 
finally prove destructive of our most valuable liber- 
ties and priviledges, therefore this meeting do in- 
struct their delegates to the convention, of the State 
of Connecticut to be convened at Hartford on the first 



Thursday of January next, to use their endeavour to 
oppose the adoption of said constitution it is now pro- 
posed." 

It is a matter of fact that one of the delegates 
though voting as instructed by the town, took occa- 
sion to state that his personal convictions led him to 
favor the proposed constitution. 

This is but after all an inadequate and meagre 
sketch of Simsbury's Part in the War of the Revo- 
lution. The heroic struggles of brothers, husbands, 
and fathers at the front were equaled by what the 
brave women went through with on the farms and 
in the households, frequently doing the work of men 
out-of-doors and the work of women within. It was 
not an uncommon thing for the women to plough, 
plant, reap, and gather into barns, slaughter hogs, 
and salt down the meat. 

Life went on with its loves, hates, hopes, and 
fears. Lovers whispered over garden walls or sat 
hand in hand before the blaze of winter fires. Moth- 
ers sang their babies to sleep, then spun and sewed 
for the husband and father at Valley Forge or Tren- 
ton. Misers counted their gold, and the parsons wrote 
and preached their sermons. 

The heroic and romantic were not so apparent 
then as now. The war cost many precious lives and 
much hard-earned money. Yet there was a heroic 
and romantic side. Men love liberty more than leisure, 
and prefer death to disgrace. There is the same 
heroism and the same grim determination sleeping in 
the hearts of New England men and women to-day. 
It flashed out during the dark days of the late Civil 
War, and may illume the gloom of darker days to 
come. 



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